


as soon as the moon hits

by doubtthestars



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, I DON'T EVEN GO HERE, bruce and selina through the years between becoming a criminal and a vigilante
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-30
Updated: 2014-10-30
Packaged: 2018-02-23 05:25:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2535779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doubtthestars/pseuds/doubtthestars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce and Cat meet at tender ages but that will change after the years. Or how does the canon change if it followed the Gotham formula. </p>
<p>"I thought Cat was your real name for an absurd amount of time." The red stain of her mouth shone especially bright as it curved to catch the glint of the chandeliers overhead. The diamonds in her ears really didn't compare and somehow Bruce knew that was most dangerous thought he had entertained in a while.</p>
<p>"It's the only one that mattered for a long time." They spin and politely ignore the other's casing of the venue for two very different reasons, but that didn't mean they couldn't help each other. </p>
<p>There's warning bells in his head.</p>
            </blockquote>





	as soon as the moon hits

At thirteen, Selina is Cat and skulks in dark alleys trying to survive the currents of Gotham. At twelve, Bruce is angry at the world that took his parents away from him and didn't spare him any time on growing up. Alfred found him still breathing in the dark crevices of the Wayne Manor and thanked every one of his lucky stars that Bruce still fought him at every turn.

At thirteen Selina saw the Waynes get murdered and tried to make a wrong, right, but eventually the wrong won. That wasn't a lesson learned for either of them but that was the time they met. Alfred had half a mind to change all of the locks on her but Bruce hadn't interacted with anyone but detectives, so he would take juvenile delinquents over the silence of Martha and the late Master Wayne.

(He still moved all of the valuables into another safe, just in case.)

Bruce had taken to making rounds around his palace to check every lock and window except for one to make it a challenge for Cat. It was a game they had carefully constructed, much like pulling one over Alfred as he attended to the menial tasks of the household. Cat got bonus points if she managed to time her arrival before Alfred started his morning duties. Bruce started to wonder if she ever stayed overnight but never managed to weave the question into their conversations.

Selina never told Bruce about what she saw that night, but she felt that her right as the oldest(by months, Bruce protested) was to make the little rich boy a bit less by the book, a little more rebellious than Alfred would like.

What Selina didn't know was Alfred was glad for the influence, Bruce wasn't just the sole Wayne heir, Bruce had to find his identity beyond the Wayne last name. Alfred could help with the Wayne-ness but Cat was a good start on the Bruce-ness. 

(He started buying cat milk, expensive treats for the flea-bags she cared for. He had left them in place of the milk with a note. 'This is for people, not cats.')

Cat was fourteen when she found her mother and lost her a few short months later to a deranged criminal on a spree. She was only part of the puzzle regarding the murders, and Cat knew it was time to grow up, to leave behind the gates of Wayne Manor. She belonged in the underworld of Gotham like the rest of the beggars and filthy criminals. There wasn't any time to play games when men were killing without remorse.

Bruce was fifteen when he stopped leaving his windows unlocked and decided he would leave Gotham behind. Alfred had been hinting at leaving his tutors and re-entering the public sphere through the schooling system. ("A boarding school isn't just to keep you inside Master Wayne, it's to make connections for the future.") That was another thing to adjust to, Master Wayne had been used seldomly in the Manor, only to reprimand Bruce and remind him of his place in the fishbowl of Gotham, but after turning fifteen Alfred continued using it.

He was fifteen when he decided he would leave Gotham and hadn't seen Cat in many many months until Alfred had taken a late night call from Jim. 

Bruce didn't accompany Alfred to bail the girl out, but it was his money and he figured that was enough of a gesture.

(Selina had practically clawed Alfred's face off when he showed up. "I don't want his money, I don't need his help. I don't even know why Gordon called you." She hissed while guilt ate at her soul.)

She had finally gained a foot into the criminal underbelly of Gotham at sixteen, too pretty to not be taken seriously. Bruce Wayne was a blip on their radar, there were other millionaires to fleece and dupe. Selina didn't want to rob jewelry stores, but a job was a job.

Eighteen came with more freedom for both. She could go off on her own, meeting secretly with Gordon to relay crumbs of truth, because they both knew the consequences of crossing the wrong people.

Bruce came back from that elite boarding school with more money to his name and Alfred surprised him with a training room. He had taken up various forms of martial arts on top of the fencing and swimming at school. The slightly greying Pennyworth cracked open a decanter that hadn't been touched since ten years prior and poured two glasses. He had no illusions about the freedom Bruce had at that posh little island of boys he had sent him to, so he toasted to life with Bruce in the quiet Manor. 

Eighteen passed quietly because Bruce Wayne wasn't yet fully grown into the persona he would become. No parties in the foyer turned dance hall and no models and socialites hanging off his elbows, but if Alfred squinted, he could see two children bickering on the sofa instead.

Bruce took to the nightlife of Gotham in the intermediate months between deciding on what university he would attend and cleaning up his father's empire of Wayne Enterprises. The board had been notified of his majority and had been spinning in their own webs to placate the young Wayne. Bruce took note of the especially disgusting suck-ups. 

(The worst way to hide a crime was to blatantly lie about it without covering your tracks. Bruce was very good at finding those tracks. Wayne Enterprises was under new management. It was starting over on a new leaf.)

Once, he thought he saw Cat, at Fish Mooney's old club, dressed in black (no surprise), her hair cropped close to her face, a woman now. 

Gordon had dinner at the Manor and informed Alfred casually about Selina bringing another child around to the precinct for help. Alfred had snarked about picking up strays but asked after another boy named Richard. Bruce had another epiphany, Gotham had moved on without him. He wasn't entirely sure if he had left Gotham behind or Gotham had left him. Either way, he retired early from dinner and left Gordon and Alfred with the wine and dessert.

(He rolled the name Selina about in his mouth, like a wine-tasting, inhaled it and swirled it a bit, trying to find the different notes in the name, who was she really? Hanging about criminals and making fun of boys for wearing bowties because Alfred insisted on it.) 

Bruce Wayne decided Gotham wouldn't forget the name Wayne. He found a cave and formed an idea.

Selina was nineteen when she ditched her boyfriend and found a roommate who was nice enough to not ask questions and quiet enough when she needed to rest. She shared her bottle of tequila and told her a story about a girl losing her mother and her best friend. Harleen looked at her as if to say you aren't fooling anyone in this room. Psychology majors were terrible at holding their liquor apparently.

At twenty , Bruce felt as if Wayne Enterprises was finally on the right track, but Gotham was not. He heard the reports and saw the news. Bruce was on the cusp of twenty-one when he conquered his fears and ran into the night with only his wits and a black mask on. Alfred had cleaned him up without asking, but left files on new kevlar protection suits being developed on his bedside table. He bought out the stock and other supplies he might need.

("A bat, Master Wayne?" "Yes, Alfred, a bat.")

It was no surprise when Bruce threw a party for a new foundation to help kids in need. It _was_ a surprise when Bruce met Richard Grayson and immediately knew he would never have children because they were all brats. He felt a pang of sympathy for Alfred after dealing with Grayson for two hours. Had he ever been that much of a nuisance? (Yes, of course he was. They were cut out of the same cloth, Dick and Master Wayne.)

Selina was twenty-three when Bruce Wayne exploded back into action in Gotham. Everyone wanted a piece of him, whether for his money or for blackmail, it was an honor to become the latest scandal on Bruce's arm and Selina almost wanted to slap some sense into him. Instead, she told Jim to get an extra guard on Bruce in case his ego finally ran off with a supermodel. He had laughed and gave her a pat on the head as if she was still thirteen and underfed. ("I'll have to tell Alfred that one.") 

Jim knew something was up when he visited the Manor, but said nothing to his old friend who clearly was hiding something. Bruce was a completely different person in private, he knew, but this publicity stunt was a farce worse than Carmelo's not being a laundering business. He wouldn't delve too deep into it, out of respect for their shared history, but that didn't mean he couldn't press on Alfred a bit.

They meet again when they're twenty-four.

"I thought Cat was your real name for an absurd amount of time." The red stain of her mouth shone especially bright as it curved to catch the glint of the chandeliers overhead. The diamonds in her ears hardly glimmered in comparison and somehow Bruce knew that was most dangerous thought he had entertained in a while.

"It's the only one that mattered for a long time. I didn't think you would recognize me." They spin and politely ignore the other's casing of the venue for two very different reasons, but that didn't mean they couldn't help each other. 

There's warning bells in his head.

"Well, Selina Kyle, would you wager on your skills? I seem to recall a skinny girl trying to break into my house boasting about her lock picking." (It was absurd to think he could ever forget her, no matter how many years its been.)

"Oh Bruce, this is too easy to bet on." She steps back at the song's end to find another partner and Bruce loses sight of her for the rest of the night. Waiting until the last of the catering staff heads home to come back in his more comfortable suit. Selina is already there, in a catsuit working on a safe behind the desk. 

The documents on the desk should be more important than her figure in the weak light of the moon but Bruce wasn't thinking straight. 

He hadn't even questioned how she knew he was the one cleaning up Gotham. He remembered a clear night on the grounds, whispering to each other about fears and truths. He had pieced together Catwoman easily, because there was no other girls with goggles like that. So he supposed it was natural for them to know each other's secrets.

"What are you waiting for, Batman?" she had turned back, after getting the safe open and everything safely tucked away. There was more of a thrill with Bruce there, seeing her in her element.

(Years later, he would say her element was in helping others, like little orphan boys who need someone to talk to.) 

He grabbed the files, almost mechanically reading the headers to make sure they held the information Gordon and Dent needed to put away another mob boss, slowly letting the money run out and leaving the criminal world unbalanced. 

"You. We should catch up after this." Selina smiled at the voice modulated not quite question. Only Bruce would ask a girl out after twenty-odd years and in the middle of a heist.

They had begun backwards, being too old for their young bodies but now perfectly suited for the job of criminal and vigilante. The future was still a vast unknown with new faces popping up to bring Gotham a little more mayhem and Selina wasn't going to change for a man, no matter how much wealth he had attached to his name. (They were both playing pretend in that room downstairs and no one else had caught onto the game.) 

"Maybe if you catch me. Bye, Bruce." She shimmied out of the window to jump to a low roof of another section of the house. 

If there was anything Bruce had learned from Selina, it was how to catch a particularly stubborn street cat named Houdini. He knew you couldn't push that cat to do anything, because he would do it in his own time or not at all, but Bruce was patient. He could wait until she took the bait.

(He moved his mother's pearls into another safe. Alfred protested loudly.)

**Author's Note:**

> It's a mess I know. I sprinkled in some familiar names and hoped for the best. Anyway, have this attempted timeline that would not leave me alone after seeing a gifset of bb! selina and bruce. 
> 
> I haven't even watched the episode. So take all of this with a huge helping of salt because I'm terrible at following tv shows.
> 
> Comment, Kudos, Tell me about Gotham below.


End file.
